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A look at the big business of catering to those with cash to burn. Send ideas to bigspender@latimes.com.
You're finishing that multimillion dollar remodel of your Brentwood estate and you need that one last perfect piece. A conversation starter, maybe? A one-of-a-kind item? Profiles in History is the perfect place for big spenders to start shopping. We guarantee your neighbors won't have a bed of nails from the Addams Family mansion or Michael J. Fox's "Back to the Future" hover board. The Calabasas Hills company is holding a two-day Hollywood memorabilia auction of close to 1,100 items starting July 31. Here's a sneak peek of the starting bids:
The kitchen remodel on your Bel-Air mansion isn't quite finished. You're sick of the construction crews, the dust, the noise. Pack up some clothes and head this summer to a fully furnished luxury apartment in town. Some options:
Big Spender has given you an inside peek into the lifestyles of the rich and famous: a Rolls-Royce rental for $7,500 a day; truffle cheese for $65 a pound; and a pearl necklace for Fido for $2,325. This week, though, we visit 360 Tomorrowland Way, a 5,000-square-foot home inside Disneyland. The Innoventions Dream Home, which opens late this month, is stocked with the latest technology -- stuff that, in some cases, even that black American Express card can't buy.
Next time you see an A-list celebrity sliding behind the wheel of an Aston Martin or Bentley, don't be so sure it wasn't rented for the night. You too can cruise down PCH in a convertible Lamborghini. Beverly Hills Rent-A-Car stocks a wide selection of exotic and prestige autos -- and it'll deliver to your driveway. Clients, mostly men, include celebrities, sports stars, Middle Eastern royalty and CEOs. "These cars go hand in hand with the male ego," company spokesman Kurt Siejkowski says. Hmmm . . . maybe it's time for the single gals out there to rent a Ferrari for a day and see what gets reeled in.
Eat your heart out, Bobby Flay. These sleek, shiny grills and accessories from Viking -- the Rolls-Royce of kitchen appliances -- will have neighbors scaling your fence in hot pursuit of the wafting smell of smoked rib-eyes. Jeff Black, whose family has owned California Home Spas & Patio in Long Beach for 31 years, offers tips on how to burn a hole in your wallet and get your grill on:
Big Spender keeps her ear to the ground, and recently heard the sound of money emanating from a luxury home in the hills of Tarzana. Listen up, audiophiles.
Don't even think of tossing this tea into the harbor. Relax, sip, maybe even raise that pinkie finger in the air. At Le Palais des Thes in Beverly Hills -- an offshoot of the France-based tea emporium -- co-owners Randy Arnold and David Barenholtz stock 250 teas, including more than a dozen green and organic varieties for health-conscious Southern Californians. Although the shop has plenty of affordable brews, it has been known to package teas for celebrities including Kate Bosworth and Selma Blair. A Saudi princess even paid a visit. Can't tell the difference from Lipton? The shop will let you sniff tea canisters to your heart's content. Tastings are also offered to novices.
"A little madness in the spring is wholesome even for the king!" said no less an authority than Emily Dickinson. That's license for gourmands with pockets as deep as royalty's to pack an extravagant picnic and head for the beach. We asked Norbert Wabnig, right, owner of the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills, for a few pointers on how to put together an over-the-top basket of afternoon snacks. His shop, a fixture since 1967, carries 500 to 600 varieties of cheese. Hard-to-find wines and other gourmet treasures also line the shelves of the tiny store. His picks:
Beau Boeckmann of Galpin Auto Sports in Van Nuys knows a few things about tricking out cars, such as the Navigator at right that boasts a diamond clock. One of the stars of MTV's "Pimp My Ride," Boeckmann has helped turn an El Camino into a mobile tailgating machine complete with barbecue grill, and modernized a Long Beach ice cream truck by adding a robotic dispensing arm and touch-screen ordering. To make the freeways more bearable, he suggests these add-ons:
Some of us toss Fido some scraps off the dinner plate and call it a night. But for those channeling Leona Helmsley, the hotel magnate who left $12 million to her Maltese, Trouble, there's no shortage of over-the-top products to pamper a pet. At Three Dog Bakery in Santa Monica, owners Rocky and Hannah Keever are experts. Customers routinely ask to see the priciest pet paraphernalia, without even looking around the store. For the pooch who has nearly everything:
Put away the quarters and funnels and break out the crystal. Big spenders sip and swish rather than gulp and chug. And their bar accouterments are as swanky as their spirits. New on the shelves:
Need a getaway? Never mind the packaged 10-day Caribbean cruise. Misty Ewing, right, of travel network Virtuoso says affluent vacationers are all about doing something different. (Think dinner on the Great Wall of China or after-hours tours of the Louvre.) Virtuoso's travel agents plan trips for Fortune 500 CEOs. Here are Ewing's suggestions for adventurers willing to flash the cash:
The purse may be the consummate accessory in New York, but in Los Angeles, where Hollywood deals are sealed while navigating traffic on the Santa Monica Freeway, the cellphone is the ultimate status symbol. Here are some that really get the cash register ringing.
Though some duffers are content to hit the public links in their golf shoes from Big 5, others make a sport out of gearing up for the game. Here's how to turn the fairway into a runway.
Money can't buy love, but it can buy a really, really extravagant wedding. Say goodbye to the one-night shindig that has guests leaving before midnight after a champagne toast and a few spins across the dance floor. The trend today? Weddings with after-parties that greet the sunrise and lavish, four-day events that last longer than some Hollywood marriages.